Surviving the Winter
by Kipcha Heiri
Summary: Two packs on a land that can not support both. They can't survive together and they can't survive without one another. What can they possibly do to make it through winter's harsh grip?
1. Chapter 1: The Scout & The Predator

**Disclaimer:** Heiri and Kipcha would like to state to all lawyers that they do not own Kiba, Hige, Tsume, Toboe, Blue or any other Wolf's Rain characters that may or may not appear in this fanfiction. Wolf's Rain, it's characters, and anything else that could possibly have anything else to do with the series is all owned by Bandai. Kipcha is scared about how formal this sounds, but she presses on nonetheless and would like to say that they own themselves. So if you want to use them, you must ask them first.

**Kipcha's Note:** I get the first chapter! So, we both hope you guys enjoy this fic and we will always respond to your reviews to let you know that we do care what you've got to say. So review once in a while, ok?

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**Surviving the Winter  
****By: Kipcha & Heiri  
**

_Chapter 1  
The Scout & The Predator_

A crisp wind whipped across the valley into the rocky faced wall. Even if they had been lying outside, the wind could not have penetrated their thick coats. But they were not outside and were oblivious to the autumn breeze; instead, they were inside a cave that had been carved into the rock wall.

If you walked deep enough in the cave and had strong enough eyes to see through the dark, you would see four wolves, lying in a peaceful slumber. Among them was not one female, which was devastating to their pack because a pack's duty was to raise the young, the future, to carry on the pack. Without females, there would be no cubs and there would be no future. Meaning, once they were gone, there would be no pack.

The oldest wolf was only half a year older than the others were, but he was not the leader of the pack. What determines a pack leader is not by age, but by his experience and his cunning. The oldest, while he had more experience, was reckless and had a tendency to think with his gut rather than with his head, which had shown through his husky build. His sugar brown coat showed that he was in his prime age of just halfway though his third year. In his almond eyes were usually a mischievous spark and his face, a tan brown wrapping around his muzzle, his eyes, and around the front of his neck like a collar, carried a charm to it. He was truly a handsome wolf and was longing to seek a mate.

The next wolf was originally a lone wolf and had been accepted into the pack when they found him and the youngest. The lone wolf was a blue gray all over his body except for his chest and around his eyes and muzzle. On his chest was a scar. He never explained to the others how he got the scar, not even to the youngest. But he still knew of the dark secrets it held, the answers of why he was a lone wolf when the reckless one and the leader had found him. His amber-golden eyes had a hint of green within them that glinted with the exact same sharpness as his defenses. Maybe that was why he was such a skilled hunter and excellent fighter, but whatever the reason, he was headstrong and liked to be on his own. That's what made him different from the leader and why he may have argued with him so much.

The kid, who was curled up close to the gray, was a reddish-brown on his back and the top of his head, except for his nose. The rest of him, including his underside and his legs as well as his eyes and the rest of his muzzle, was a tan brown. He was of a small build since he had yet to develop any muscles. His fur wasn't even to its full length yet since he was only a year, still coming out of his cub stage. So naïve to the world, his amber golden eyes had a caring spark to him. He was soft and didn't think with logic or cunning, instead he thought with his emotions, which made him the weakest of the pack. He still had a lot to learn since he had been raised by humans for so long before he crawled off on his own.

The last wolf, the leader of the four, was different. He stuck out like a sore thumb during this season. His white fur, during the winter however, allowed him to blend in and without a keen eye of the wolf, you would not even see him coming across the white background. His sharp amber gold eyes showed his leadership as they burned with a passion and desire to gain for his pack, which is what made him the leader. Filled with pride and instinct, he was the one to stick to the old traditions the most compared to the others in his pack. The others looked to him for these traits as the leader. Normally he would be on top of the rock wall, peering down at the world below the cliff and watching over his pack, but for now, he was resting peacefully like the others in their warm den, out of the nippy winds that were slowly bringing winter.

Across the stream and across the field that was sprinkled with an occasional wood, however, life was already beginning to move about and take place. "Heiri!" a voice called from outside the den. The she-wolf pack leader lifted her head from inside their makeshift den that had been abandoned by a group of foxes and stared out the entrance. "Heiri!" the voice called again. The blue-gray with a white wolf rose to her feet and stretched, giving a long yawn.

"What?" she finally called back as she trotted out of the cave, her emerald eyes instantly going to the source of the voice. A she-wolf, older than her by a year, was the prime example of a gray wolf's looks with black streaked across her back with the reddish-tan mixed in. Extending up onto her head, the black met in a widow's peak on her forehead while it lined her ears and down the back the reddish-tan, giving it the appearance of fox ears. Her tail was dribbled with black, only up to about her mid-tail before, like her belly, the majority of her face, her chest, and her legs. But from her point of hock and elbows up was the black and reddish-tan mixture on her back. Her amber-golden eyes looked pleading.

"Who's hunting? I want something to eat!" She looked through Heiri, not at her. Despite this wolf being older than her pack leader, she knew that looking directly in her friend's eyes would be a challenge, something she didn't want to make as she also kept her tail down.

"Blue, are you hungry?" Heiri asked, looking over her shoulder up at a black wolf lying on a rock outside the den. Opening her ice blue eyes, Blue lifted her head.

"I already caught a squirrel," she replied. It was unnatural for a wolf to carry the blue eyes and it showed her true blood of being half wolf, but also, half dog. She had been a lone wolf and had run into Heiri and the other wolf's pack that they had all three escaped. She had just been a cub, lost without anyone to guide her as she had been abandoned by her owners. Heiri's pack had welcomed her as Heiri was born to the alpha male and female. But it was not her blood that made the leader of this pack, but instead was her skills. Blue was inexperienced at survival by herself and stuck to the other wolf's side quite often, both good friends. The other wolf was easily distracted and while she was a logical thinker, she was unable to lead and unable to make decisions because she was such a logical thinker. It was more of a group effort with this small pack, but it helped it function properly.

"Go, get something to eat, Kipcha," Heiri said as Blue got back into a comfortable position. "But be careful."

"Don't worry," Kipcha replied with a smirk in her eyes.

"I saw a hare earlier in that cluster of trees," Blue added. "You might be able to find a warren if you get lucky."

"I'll bring something back for you, Heiri," Kipcha said as she was already beginning to think of the chase of a rabbit. It had its speed, but Kipcha had endurance, all she had to do was to block it from its hole in the ground and let it run itself until it couldn't run anymore and Kipcha could get her jaws on it.

"Don't forget to sniff out for other wolves," Heiri added quickly before Kipcha took off.

"You worry too much," Kipcha said as she turned. "I'll be back before you know it." And with that, she bolted off into the cluster Blue had pointed out.

But Kipcha's stomach wasn't the only one that was growling and pleading for food. "I'm so hungry," the huskily built wolf groaned.

"Like you need anything to eat," the gray one growled. "You eat enough to feed all of us, Hige." Hige only shot him a glare.

"We're moving to the winter den in five suns," the white wolf announced as he walked down the slope from the top of the rock wall.

"What? Why Kiba?" the young one looked up from the field mouse he had been barely able to capture.

"The deer are beginning to get on the move again," Kiba replied.

"I still don't get why I should listen to you," the gray snarled.

"Because, Tsume," the youngster began, "Kiba knows what is best."

"Nobody asked you to come along anyways," Hige added with a smirk in his almond eyes. Standing up he stretched, and continued, "How about I go check it out, maybe we can move there sooner. I can see if the foxes have moved or if they are still staying in that little den of theirs." Kiba said nothing, but Hige didn't need him to say anything as he had already silently agreed to him.

"Can I come?" the youngster asked, looking up with hopeful eyes.

"And have you blow my cover? Forget it, runt," Hige said as he already began to trot off.

"My name isn't runt, Hige! It's Toboe!" he growled.

"Whatever," Hige called over his shoulder as he waded through the stream, occasionally exclaiming about the coldness of the stream in the early autumn air. Climbing out the other side, he shook his fur off and ran out of their sight. He was a fast runner despite his build, which made him such an excellent scout. But that wasn't the only good part about him, his strong nose. His ability to pick up scent was amazing as he entered a few clusters of forests that he knew from front to back. It wouldn't be much longer until he reached the last cluster and made it through to the fox den. His tongue lazily lolled out of his mouth as he ran, letting the wind whip through his fur and past his ears.

In the last forest, unbeknownst to him, a she-wolf was stalking her prey. "Perfect," she whispered so quietly that the hare didn't even know she had spoken. Carefully padding her way around, she saw the escape route and quickly got in position. Kipcha watched and waited, the hare knew she was there. But the question than ran through every prey's mind was the question of whether to run or to stay still. She just had to wait for it to make the decision to bolt. The trapped hare locked eyes with her. That's when it made the decision she wanted it to. It freaked and bolted, that was her cue. Letting her primal instincts take over, she chased after it like the predator she was. To wolves, they were the top predator with few enemies and only competitions for food. She chased the hare around and continued to herd it further and further away from his burrow as she began to gain ground on him despite having to weave around the trees. Before too long, Kipcha was running practically on top of the creature and brought her jaws down upon it.

Clamping the powerful jaws that were given to her species, Kipcha delivered a fatal strike as she felt the warm, metallic liquid trickle into her mouth. In a matter of seconds, the hare lay limp in her jaws. Lying down with her kill, Kipcha decided to devour as much as she could stuff now and if there was any leftovers to bring it back to her leader. Just before she was about to take her next bite, Kipcha froze. She sensed something in the forest other than herself and the other prey.

Lurking in the trees, another predator like herself was standing behind the veil of trees. He was unable to believe his luck and his surprise of seeing a female. Kipcha lifted her head from her kill and turned with her hackles raised and her lips curled into a snarl, letting an intimidating growl emit from her throat.

"Whoa, whoa," a male's voice came from the trees as she wanted a husky, sugar brown wolf come forward. "I'm not here to fight."

"Then what are you doing here?" she snapped, unafraid to show her fangs to him. He sighed as he remembered his leader behaving the same way when he first met him.

"I'm just scouting," he replied, he went to take another step forward, but she removed the weight from her haunches forward and snapped. He instantly took his paw back. "Where do you come from? Do you live near here?"

"Why should that be any concern of yours?"

"Look, we can be friends," he replied. "I'm Hige. Who are you?" She growled and hesitated.

"Kipcha," she snarled in response.

"A lone wolf?"

"No."

"Then where's your pack?"

"Like I'd tell you," she growled, lowering her muzzle in a menacing manner. She showed her defiance by hiding her throat instead of submitting to this stranger and exposing her throat.

"Ok, you don't have to tell me," he said as he sniffed the air. He could smell a fox scent on her. Either she was really a lone wolf staying in the fox den or she really did have a pack. And if she did, it could be dangerous. "Where's your mate?"

"I don't have one."

"Unfortunate." Kipcha only sent him another sharp glare as she continued to keep her defenses up. "What about your alpha male?"

"Don't have one."

"Female?"

"I doubt she'd like to talk to you," Kipcha growled.

"If you don't have an alpha male then you just have females then…" he concluded. "Interesting," he added. "Well, I best be heading back. I'll see you around, Kipcha." He turned and trotted off without worrying about the agitated she-wolf behind him. Kipcha ceased her growling after he was out of sight and his scent was gone. Picking up her meal, she decided it would be best to get back to the den. Heiri would need to know of this mysterious male. If he was a lone wolf himself then this could be their pack's chance to have cubs and prosper. Kipcha turned and ran back for her own den. She only hoped Heiri would think of something to do with what little information Kipcha had been able to gather about the wolf.


	2. Chapter 2: Truth or Lies

**Kipcha's Responses:** _Prepare yourselves!_

Toboe-Angel: _Thank you for your review! You are the first to review! I hope you enjoy this chapter and the many more to come._

Nerevaire: _Thank you! I really feel like I have grown and matured as a writer! We are both being extremely careful with the storyline to be sure that it plays out properly._

I Be Guest: _Thank you! But yes, the characters will be behaving more like wolves and may act slightly OOC at times because of that. But this an AU so it's to be expected, right? As for any secrets about the rest of the story...well, I can't tell now can I? That would kinda ruin it wouldn' it? (Yes! The Sight is an awesome book! I couldn't put it down!) I hope you enjoy Heiri's installment!_

**Heiri's Note:** This is my first Wolf's Rain fic. I hope we get some (more) good reviews

The sugar brown wolf trotted along the path he knew so well. He and the other wolves from his pack had traveled back and forth through these scattered woods so many times that the grass no longer grew along the path they took. He was returning at a much slower pace than he had come at. He had completely forgotten that he had come this way in search of food. Thoughts crossed his mind as he moved right along. Kipcha sure had been very defensive. She had a bit of an attitude! Hige was arguing with himself about whether she had been telling the truth or not. He wanted to believe her, but there was that voice in the back of his head telling him he'd believe anything an attractive female said. This caused a second argument. He half believed he would, but the other half of him seemed to say, "Yeah right! I make my own descisions!" It was a difficult matter. There weren't any second thoughts on that, thankfully. The problem was, there was sure to be more arguments once the rest of the pack heard. Hige had been so deep in his thoughts, he didn't even notice the hare he pawed right by. He held his head high as he came to the stream. The wolf lept right into it hoping that possibly, a member of the female pack would be watching. He craved a mate. Hige shook the water from his thick coat, and continued on. That voice in his head came back, telling him that Kipcha was lying and he was an idiot for showing off. Then another voice spoke, saying that he was just being himself. This was too complicated. No female wolf would ever want a male wolf that talked to himself! That's what it was like for Hige. Females and food were all that seemed to exist. Occasionally an annoying runt but that was occassionally.

The wolf was still just slightly damp as the cave came into sight. He had caught the scents of Tsume and Toboe a ways back but he hadn't detected Kiba yet. He sprinted the remaining yards as his destination drew near, resembling a racehorse about to cross the finish line. His tail flew out behind him as he ran. A blur of brown to the human eye, for wolves are very fast.

"Back already, Hige? You usually take much longer!" the young one called Toboe shouted to his pack member. Hige, however decided to ignore this remark. He walked straight past Toboe, who was trying to catch his tail, up to Tsume.

"You'll never believe what I found out!" he said proudly to the gray colored wolf. Too proud. Hige was so excited that he had forgotten to let his tail dangle between his legs, and was holding it up high. As he waited for Tsume to reply, he felt eyes fall on him. Sniffing the air, he caught the scent of Kiba and immediately realized his mistake.

"Competition for pack leader never stops I've learned," the lead wolf said with a great release of air.

"He was about to tell me something, Kiba. You don't have to put on the high and mighty act," Tsume said coldly. This statement caused Kiba's head to shoot up at Tsume. Anger welled in his golden eyes and he suddenly looked very dangerous.

"I wasn't trying to act 'high and mighty'. I merely had a comment. Hige, what were you about to say?" Kiba asked as he relaxed. He was in no mood to argue with Tsume. It was like beating a dead horse. Nothing could change Tsume's opinion about his position in the pack. He was almost positive about that.

Hige wasn't paying attention. At first, Tsume and Kiba's arguments had amused him, but now it was just boring. He was currently back to the voices. He couldn't help it! He was very, very undecided on this matter. Kipcha seemed the honest type, yet she also seemed the sly type. This was just too confusing. What if she did have a pack? That would mean less food for the male pack. It would also mean keeping the pack going. He couldn't decide if he should wait to investigate further into this Kipcha business or if he should tell them now and take the argument risk. The wolf didn't notice everyone was waiting for him to answer Kiba's question. Hige decided to tell them, because Kiba would find out anyways. He always did.

"I met a female wolf in the woods beyond the stream!" he exclaimed. His head was held low, causing a deep, warning growl to escape from Kiba's throat. Hige immediately lifted his head exposing his throat, showing submission.

"She said she had a pack, all female, too. At least that's what she said. Her name was Kipcha, I think. I couldn't decide if she was telling the truth or not, though." Hige said, happy to have been helpful.

"Females past your level of understanding, Hige?" Tsume said in a slightly rude way. Hurtful humor was his way of being funny. Kiba just stared at Hige, while Toboe looked thoughtful.

"Girls aren't hard to understand," he said defensively to Tsume. Hige saw this as an opportunity to crack one of his 'runt jokes'. He loved to pick on Toboe.

"Takes one to know one, doesn't it?" Hige said. This was aimed at Toboe. Kiba let a small snort loose while Tsume just narrowed his eyes.

"This is a serious matter. It concerns our survival. We have to stay together if we're going to make it through the winter. Hige, I don't need any of your little remarks. These female wolves have complicated things a bit. With them our pack can continue. Though, if we let them stay food will be even scarcer than it already is!" Kiba said matter-of-factly.

"I say we try to join packs with them. Otherwise, when we're gone the pack is gone," Kiba said. He was aiming this at Tsume, for he knew the gray wolf would say the opposite. He always did. If Kiba said day, Tsume would say night. It was that simple. It was a small challenge.

"I say we drive them out of here. If we don't we'll starve. You yourself said that we had to make it through this winter," Tsume said as he answered this small challenge.

"I say we join with them. We need females in this pack, or it's going to end up as nothing!" Hige said, trying to get his point through Tsume's somewhat thick skull.

"Hige's right," Toboe said quietly.

"What do you not understand about the word starvation?!" Tsume shouted. Tempers were rising.

"What do you not understand about mating?! You need a female!" Kiba shouted back. He let a snarl slip, as a final warning to Tsume. Back down now or regret it.

"In that case, we're all set," Hige said as he tilted his head toward Toboe. Toboe's eyes narrowed at this. He was sick of being called a girl.

"Hige, I'm not a girl! I want you to understand that!" Toboe said. He was shaking slightly.

"If we don't have food, we won't have any stinkin' energy for mating! You are just about the worst leader in the history of this pack! You'd screw your own mother if it kept the pack going!" Tsume shot angrily at Kiba. Kiba's hackles rosed at this. His lips pulled back, showing his long, white, fangs. He was snarling.

"Don't you ever say that again, you got that? Or I'll personally make sure you're eliminated from this pack! That will help lower the scarcity of food for you!" Kiba shouted spitefully at Tsume. Tsume crouched, ready to lunge at Kiba. He wasn't going anywhere. Kiba would be the one to leave, if anyone. His hackles rose as well and he bared his fangs.

"You've gone too far this time!" Tsume sprang up from his low crouch and flew towards Kiba. Kiba also forced all of his strength into his hind legs as he sprang up, off the ground. The two wolves clashed together with the sickening sound of bone on bone.

"Guys, stop it! We don't need to be fighting!" Toboe screamed at them. When he realized he wasn't getting a respone, he turned around and bolted. Nobody noticed Toboe's quick disappearance, for they were all much too busy arguing. Toboe ran as fast as his legs would carry him. His body was stretched out as he ran, his belly almost touching the ground. He leapt over a fallen tree in his way as he continued to run. He was sick of all these arguments! Tsume and Kiba fought over opinions continuously. He would go check this little situation out himself. Though what good would it do if the one called Kipcha were lying? Toboe hoped there really was a female wolf pack as he came to the stream. Ever since they started living in the cave, he had always had a problem with this stream. Young Toboe paced back and forth a few times, trying to decide how to take the stream. Finally, he just leaped in. He got across the stream as fast as he could and jumped out onto the other bank. He stood there for a second, dripping. The wolf shook himself then slowed to a trot. He picked up the scent of a female, as he caught the breeze. She wasn't anywhere nearby, so he quickened his pace. The scent got stronger with every step that he took. With his quickening pace, he came to a spot where the scent was very strong. Toboe stopped and listened. He knew that there was a wolf beyond these bushes. He was hoping more than one, actually. Excited, he found a small gap where he could peak through into the clearing beyond. There, he saw two wolves lying down! One was more of a black color while the second one was a gray blue. Toboe wondered which one was named Kipcha. That's when a third wolf exited the fox den and into the clearing.

"There you are, Kipcha!" The black wolf with piercing blue eyes called out as the third wolf came into the clearing. The third wolf was white with a streak of black down her back, coming to a widow's peak on top of her forehead. She had entrancing golden-amber eyes that were difficult to pull away from. Toboe was interested in these two wolves, but his interest was directed more towards the gray wolf with glittering emerald eyes. She was very attractive in his opinion, and he already admired her.

"Was I needed?" Kipcha questioned. Toboe remembered the name Kipcha. So she was telling the truth after all. She really did have a pack. The question was how many more wolves were there in this pack? He was yet to find out the names of the black and gray wolves.

"Blue and I were just debating whether we should run the males out or not. We need more food, for it is scarce. Yet this is an all female pack," stated the wolf Toboe admired as she lifted her head off her paws.

"Heiri is right," the black wolf named Blue said confidently to Kipcha.

"We need to come to a solution soon if we want to survive. Keep in mind that we don't have as much time as we need. We either drive the males out or let them stay," Kipcha said loud and flatly to make her point. Toboe didn't think they could drive his pack out. Kiba and Tsume wouldn't go anywhere if they didn't want to. That's one of the reasons that there is so much competition between them.

"We'll monitor this for a few suns if you understand what I mean." Heiri decided as she lay her head back down and closed her eyes. Well, one thing was for sure. This old fox den sure wasn't abandoned anymore. The wolves never liked the foxes that lived here in the past. They robbed the male wolf pack whenever they got the chance! It had gotten to be such an annoyance that Tsume actually attacked one of the foxes he caught trying to steal food and ate it! It was like killing two birds with one bite for him. He got a meal, and also sent a warning to the foxes to stay away. They didn't come back after that, but they did seem to always pop up when one of the male wolves was hunting. As long as the male pack got food, they were happy. When food was scarce, a fox would sometimes prey on the same animal a wolf was preying on. Or sometimes they would run out towards an animal being preyed on by a wolf so that it would run away before the wolf could have it. It was a way of getting revenge without getting too close. The males still managed though. A baby bird or two wasn't that big of a loss. The animals that really mattered, such as members of the deer family, were too large for the fox family to hunt. Then all of a sudden, that stopped happening. Kiba went to investigate the den, and found it empty. The scent that remained of the foxes hinted that no one had been there for a few days now. Now, the female pack lived in the old den. Toboe wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The foxes were a nuisance for depriving the male wolves of small animals. The new inhabitants of the den would deprive them of the big animals as well as the smaller ones! Toboe looked at the she-wolves one last time before turning around and trotting away. He inhaled their scent deeply, as if to etch it into his memory forever.

As Toboe exited the den area and entered the vast meadow, he increased his speed very quickly. He heard the wings of some prey bird beating overhead. He wasn't nearly as fast as the other three male wolves, but he still liked to stretch his legs with a run here and there. It felt good to just run across the meadow like that. Toboe looked a bit to the left and saw the sun. The sound of trickling water reached his ears as he neared the stream. Feeling proud of himself, he took the stream without a second thought! There was a small whisper in the back of his mind telling him of the water carrying small animals downstream in the past, and of the waterfall that lurked a few miles south. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his head and lept out of the cool water. After crossing the stream, he eased into a steady lope, and traveled that way until he reached the cave.

Meanwhile, back at the female's den Blue had picked up an unfamiliar scent. She paced around, trying to locate its source. The black wolf decided that it was coming strongest from the semi-circle clump of bushes and trees near the side of the den entrance. She traced it to the spot and inhaled. It was the scent of a male wolf! Fresh, but he was no longer here.

"Kipcha! Come here!" she called over to the amber-eyed wolf. Kipcha rose from her resting spot and half walked, half trotted over to Blue. She immediately recognized the scent as that of a male wolf.

"Is this the scent of the one called Hige?" Blue asked questioningly.

"No, it's not." Kipcha replied with a hint of anger in her voice.


	3. Chapter 3: Fighting Decision

**Heiri's Responses:**

Maiden of the Collar: _Thanks! More is on the way!_

I Be Guest: _Maybe! Keep reading to find out!_

Amaya-Anarya: _Thanks! I don't know! Well, actually I do, but that's later in the story!_

**Kipcha's Note:** So sorry for no update for a while. I've just been distracted by a few things. But don't worry, I'm back like Shady, only better! Maybe...kinda...sorta...ok, not really.

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"Well, that proves that there are more males," Heiri said as she walked over to her pack members. "At least one other," she added.

"Well, they sent a spy," Blue spoke after pondering on the current events. "They could be aggressive."

"Or they could just be curious," Kipcha reminded, now feeling the first spark of interest in the males as she thought over the possibilities. "Hige's eyes did seem to light up slightly when he discovered there were no males," she added. Kipcha began to stalk back to her spot and lie back down as she continued. "Plus, he did not try to attack me or steal my food."

"But what if they are aggressive? The alpha female could be pregnant because of premature mating," Blue questioned allowed as she looked to her leader.

"Why would he be so happy to see a female?" Heiri growled almost in a bored tone of voice.

"Or a whole pack of them for that matter," Kipcha growled, almost bitterly as she thought of how alone the pack was.

"But Heiri, say they do wish to come to run us out and they are aggressive," Blue began. Looking down, Blue was careful to keep her throat exposed as she began to wonder and pondered over what could take place if they were truly vicious and had massive numbers. "What will we do?" Blue asked, lifting her head to look through her leader without locking eyes.

It was Heiri's turn to think. She did not give an answer, merely shook her head and loped back into the den to think some. She lay down as she looked around in the darkness. She inhaled and exhaled in a huge sigh as she thought. But her thoughts kept drifting to other unimportant and quite silly matters. She hated the scent of the den. It reeked of the foxes that had once occupied them with only a faint scent of their own. It annoyed her so much she could barely keep her thoughts going in a straight line. She scolded herself for getting off the subject and closed her eyes, there was nothing interesting in the cave that she hadn't seen before so the darkness of her closed eyes might bring her some peace.

The one named Hige seemed nice enough from what Kipcha spoke of him. She had explained that she had shown aggression to maybe hopefully ward him off as that would be anyone's natural reaction, but Hige had acted in the opposite many would and he showed no sign of wanting to offend her. If anything, he sounded as though he had wanted to make her feel comfortable around him, which was a sign that he did not want to bring harm to her or her pack. But, at the same time, she had to take into consideration the cunning of her species. Wolves were crafty and nowhere near stupid when it came to creating plots. He could possibly be luring them into a false sense of security, something that they could do around their prey when they felt like having a bit of fun.

Then she had to take into consideration the one that had hid inside the bushes. She mentally cursed the lack of breeze from preventing the wind to carry a scent; otherwise, they would have caught the spy. But why had they sent a spy if they had been so friendly and not trying to run them out. She could see no logic in not presenting themselves if they had just wanted information on the pack rather than spying and being sneaky. It perplexed her as she lay there in the warm abandoned fox den. A good nap may clear her mind, she decided as she let herself be enveloped in sleep's warm arms.

Fur was flying as the two male wolves jumped back from one another. In another clash, they stood on their hind legs, ripping and tearing at each other with their claws and fangs. Tsume bit into Kiba's hackles and pulled him to the ground. Kiba was not easily put down and even though Tsume stood over him, he found himself having to try to jump upon Kiba, rather than actually just go for the throat. Lunge after lunge, Kiba put up his forepaws and pushed the gray wolf back. Tsume had his mouth open and continuously snapped viciously, just missing the throat each time as he felt the great paws of the alpha male slam against his chest. Tossing his head wildly, Kiba bit and snapped at the gray with his mouth until he finally made contact on the other wolf's muzzle.

Giving a loud cry, Tsume jumped back shaking his head as blood landed on the ground. Rolling onto his stomach, Kiba lunged for Tsume and threw his weight into it, causing the gray to lose balance and fall over. Kiba kept his stride, but stumbled slightly, still snapping wildly. Tsume was a smart and skilled fighter, so Kiba missed his target of the neck when Tsume curled his neck around and bit at Kiba's paws. Kiba jumped back, but did not go unscathed as he felt the sharp fangs drag down his leg. Once again, Kiba refused to whimper aloud as the rage continued to burn in his eyes. He raised his tail once more and growled viciously, still protecting his neck and raising his hackles. Curling his lip back into a snarl, Tsume returned the same aggressive stance as he rose to his feet.

The two wolves locked eyes and stared each other down while the brown sugar wolf only watched. He could not interfere no matter how much he desired for the fighting to stop. "Give it up," Kiba snarled.

"As if," Tsume growled maliciously back. The taste of blood was in both of their mouths as they were both already bleeding from scrapes and scratches from both fangs that had only grazed as well as claws that had made some good contact.

They both remained in their positions, waiting for the other to make their move. Tsume couldn't resist the urge to move anymore and set his weight back on his haunches before diving for the white wolf. Kiba instantly set his weight back on his haunches, but did not spring. Instead, he ducked underneath and sprung below him. Tsume barely could even wrap his jaws around Kiba's hinds before he felt the white wolf's powerful jaws clamp around his tuck up. Tsume's teeth were already into Kiba's flesh, but quickly ripped out, which only caused Kiba to bite down harder. Tsume slammed into the ground as Kiba held him. Releasing him, Kiba glared at Tsume.

This time, Tsume did not make eye contact; he did not bare his fangs. The pain was already searing and instantly shot down his leg as the gray wolf lay on the ground. Kiba growled in warning, showing mercy on the injured opponent, and turned away with his tail raised. "That's a warning," Kiba growled. "Don't expect mercy next time."

The words were empty. Tsume knew it. Hige knew it. Even Kiba knew it. Kiba would never kill one of his own. He cared too much about his pack to strike down one of the pack. It would go against his morals and ideals if he did something like that. Kiba lay down beside the mouth of the cave as Tsume pushed himself to his paws. "Hey, look, the runt's coming back," Hige announced as Toboe shook off the water from the stream and was loping towards them. When he arrived on the scene, he saw the gray wolf limping with not only an injured leg, but also an injured pride.

"Guys! Kipcha wasn't lying!" Toboe exclaimed gleefully. Unlike Hige, he was sure to keep his tail down. The blood staining the ground before him reminded him to keep it in check because tempers were still probably on the flare. Hige only glanced at the runt. It also tore him up inside to watch Tsume and Kiba fight. He hated seeing members of his pack at their throats, literally. It didn't help the pack any that Tsume couldn't swallow his pride and just fall in line like the other two. He always stayed though. Hige was not like Toboe and fled every time the rage swelled in the two sets of fierce eyes of the alpha wolf and his challenger. He watched the scuffles and stood still or paced. It put him on edge, certainly, but he would not run from it. He was no longer a cub and hadn't been for nearly three years now.

Hige had not looked at Toboe for more than a second because quite honestly, the duel between the two wolves was enough to take his mind away from the perkier things in life. Every time the fangs were bared and the hackles were raised, the tension was so thick in the air that it made Hige feel almost claustrophobic and locked in a small cell with no key. He rested his head on his paws and merely looked back and forth as the conversation carried on; his mind was racing with too many thoughts to be worrying about Kiba's decision on the females just then.

"How many are there?" Kiba asked flatly, still having ruffled feathers from the fight he had just engaged himself in.

"I saw three," he replied. "And I saw Kipcha with them. There was Blue, Heiri, and Kipcha. I didn't smell any other wolves though." Toboe howled in his happiness and did a circle. Tsume gave an annoyed look with nothing to say as he tended to his wounds. Hige just merely rolled his eyes as Kiba kept still as a stone. The youngster's excitement seemed to have not fazed the alpha as he lay watching. "Heiri looks like she's the alpha."

"Did you approach them?" Tsume snarled from his corner. Kiba only shot him a glare, it wasn't his place to be asking the questions or making the decision, yet Tsume just seemed to help himself. Kiba could only wonder how many more bites like those that it would take before the gray understood that his place was as a beta, not as an alpha.

"No," Toboe shook his head as he trotted over to a comfortable spot under some shade and laid himself down. "I didn't dare to get too close. But I was careful and wasn't spotted." Kiba thought over this. They would eventually find that he had been there and could see it as a sign of aggression. He looked down at his paws and saw the blood dripping over his normally white fur. Licking the wound gingerly, he thought over what information the youngest had just informed him of. It would be a difficult decision. He thought it over quietly as Toboe sat happily, Tsume mumbled to himself, and Hige seemed restless.

The she-wolves would no doubt see the scent of a wolf from the male pack as a sign of aggression due to the lack of contact other than observing. But at the same time, they could see it as the pack's true and honest curiosity getting the better of them. Kiba doubted the latter as he thought over what he would think. As the pack leader, he would take this as a sign of aggression. He would need to send someone in as soon as possible to clarify everything, the situation, Toboe's visit, the proposition, everything. He looked up to his scout as he watched Hige once again change position on the ground, grumbling to himself.

"Hige," the white wolf voiced over to the sugar brown. That's all it took for the ears to perk and for Hige to sit up. "Come with me, I need to speak with you." Kiba rose, but showed no sign of the real soreness he was feeling in his paw from Tsume's bite. He would deny the blue-gray the satisfaction of seeing the alpha in pain. The scout rose to his own feet and trotted alongside the white as they climbed up the slope to the top of the rock wall. Kiba said nothing during their ascension and it was spent in utter silence as they quickly made their way up. When they reached the top, Kiba continued to trot over to the edge of the precipice while Hige hung back.

Kiba sat down and gazed out over the land. It still took his breath away too see the vastness of the land he knew so well. Hige waited for his leader to say anything whether it was about dismissal or to come closer. Whichever the case, Hige waited. Kiba was lost in his own thoughts for a few seconds. He re-thought over what he had already gone over. These were difficult choices he was making, but he had to be confident in his decisions. He looked towards the fox den where it was hidden behind the clump of forest.

"Hige, come here," Kiba finally growled after thinking over his thoughts. He had finalized his decision in his mind. If he were Heiri, the one Toboe told him was the alpha, he would be wary of these males and any sign of aggression like a spy would put him on edge. They needed to clarify, it was the only way they could possibly live in harmony. Hige did what he had been told and scampered over beside him and sat almost immediately. Hige had never been to the edge before and gazed out at the valley. His eyes went wide as he suppressed a gasp.

It was an amazing sight. Below them, they could see the grumbling Tsume and Toboe resting under the shade, then you could see the stream, every cluster of forest, the deer, a few other larger wildlife, birds flying in the sky or diving into one of the forests, and could see so far away that Hige could even see land behind their boundaries. It was absolutely breathtaking. He could see the land for once from so high, it made his pride swell. Hige had little pride at times, but his just made him feel proud to be following a strong alpha, to have the strongest nose, and extremely proud to be a wolf. A wolf was the top of the food chain out there. No one dared mess with a pack of wolves because they knew the bonds that each held with one another. Hige's pride had swollen tremendously to the point he felt his lips quivering.

But Kiba beat him to it. Kiba's mouth formed the perfect 'O' and a long howl was released. Hige almost smiled and joined in. It felt good to howl, because they had no reason to joyously commemorate something with the song of their kind, but just witnessing this land and all they had accomplished was something to celebrate as Hige let the song flow from his mind as they both pointed their muzzles to the heavens above. The howling subsided and the two both lowered their muzzles, satisfied with the chorus. Below, Toboe answered the call with his own as it traveled up to the alpha and his scout. Tsume, despite his irritated state, even joined in the returning call. The white wolf and the sugar brown wolf both raised their muzzles once more and joined their pack members in the call.

Four beautiful voices rose up into the air and flew towards the heavens as they gave celebration and thanks for what they had achieved. Lowering his head to gain another breath, Hige stopped from howling once more. Standing outside the forest blocking the forest den was a black wolf. While she could not see the wolves, she still answered their call and howled as loud as she could. Her howl carried to them as Hige snapped out of it and jumped back into the song. The voices all seemed to melt into one and if a human passing by heard the calls, they'd think a giant wolf was calling to the heavens. The calls all subsided and did not continue after a while, but the pride and joy in the five wolves still lingered within them as they calmed themselves.

"This…this is amazing…" Hige finally got out as he looked around. Kiba said nothing on the subject, but there was a smile in his eyes as he side-glanced his friend.

"Hige," he began. "We need to go to the female den."

"Why so soon?" Hige asked, looking at his commander who only studied the land before him, working a route in his mind secretly.

"They will eventually find Toboe's scent and they could see it as a sign of aggression," he growled in response. "I would too." Hige thought on it as he turned and looked towards the land.

"I see what you are saying."

"Which is why I'm taking you with me," Kiba seemed to almost disregard Hige even spoke. "Tsume would be a mistake as he may offend the she-wolves, Toboe is just too young if something was to happen and you are the perfect candidate. Hige, we need to go discretely, I'm afraid if we are too blunt and just waltz in there, they could become aggressive. I know sneaking probably isn't showing the best either, but it's probably the only way to get them to at least hear us out."

"You've got a point," he replied as he looked back at Kiba. "So what way are we going?"

Reaching out his paw, Kiba almost seemed to point to the route as Hige looked in the direction the alpha was directing. He traced a line with his eyes and understood. Kiba glanced over at his eyes and saw the understanding. "We leave tonight, after the sun has fully set and when we can travel in the cover of the night." Hige saw the thoughtful look in Kiba's eyes and decided the best thing he could do for his leader would to follow and support the difficult decision.

"What about the other two?" Hige asked as he peered over the land. Kiba's eyes did not leave the valley as he thought it over.

"We will tell them where we are going as we leave," Kiba spoke confidently.

"Gotcha," Hige nodded in confirmation. He was about to leave when they heard a lone howl of calling. It was majestic and seemed to summon the breeze that had begun. So powerful, it seemed to make the mountains to the south bow down. The howl subsided as two calls responded in a chorus. Hige and Kiba both thought the same passing thought as unbeknownst to them, two she-wolves were returning for their den.

Heiri stood at the entrance of the den as she saw the other two she-wolves running towards her. Kipcha arrived just a few seconds before Blue, but it did not take long for the black wolf to meet the other two. "Who was howling?" Heiri asked, slight anger was flaring in her eyes as Kipcha looked at Blue and Blue looked at Kipcha. Blue hung her head in shame.

"I did…" she murmured.

"What were you thinking?" Heiri snapped since she had yet to make her decision and making friendly calls like that could lead to sooner attacks from the male wolves if they were truly aggressive.

"I couldn't help it," she whimpered shamefully. "It was such a wonderful call that it made the pride swell up in my chest until I couldn't hold it in any longer, I just had to let it out."

Heiri eyed the black wolf. The call could have cost them, but at the same time, it could have made no difference. She decided the latter and just plainly shook her head. "Don't let it happen again."

Blue raised her head as Kipcha also looked up. She couldn't take the curiosity that was growing within her any longer and finally spoke, "Have you reached any decision, Heiri?"

Heiri only glared at Kipcha and heaved a sigh, "I can only tell you this much." Both wolves, Blue and Kipcha, perked at this and listened intently at what the alpha female had decided. Both of their fates, after all, rested in Heiri's paws. "We will hold our ground, no matter what." Kipcha and Kipcha both nodded in agreement, they weren't about to argue with her judgment.

"But what if they are not aggressive?" Kipcha inquired, her interest in what the alpha had to say in regards to the males was just beginning to spark once more.

"I still have not yet passed my judgment upon the matter," Heiri stated matter-of-factly. "I will need more time to consider it."

"But we may not have much time," Blue chimed. "Time is not on our side on the matter, winter is almost here."

"I know that," Heiri growled as she shifted uncomfortably. "I just need more time to think." Kipcha had lost interest then and gave a yawn.

"I'll leave you to think," Kipcha announced as she padded past Heiri and into the den to get a good nap in.

"I will return to my hunt," Blue proclaimed as she turned and darted back into the forest. Heiri sighed a very heavy sigh. So much was resting on her shoulders at her moment, she felt as though she might collapse under the weight. Sure, she had taken on a lot of responsibility when Kipcha, Blue, and herself had run away from the old pack and became their leader; someone they looked to for answers, but this was a larger responsibility than that. Finally, they had found some place to stay and it turned out that another pack occupied this land. To make it worse, they knew barely anything about the pack and now she was forced to make a decision. Heiri was tired of running away. They had run for so long that she was not willing to run again.

But for now, she wanted a nice run; a nice long run to take her mind off things. Lightening her load with a nice run would do the alpha some good, she decided. Taking off in a random direction, she ran. No. She wasn't running. She was flying. Heiri glided across the land, her muscles not even being strained and the feeling of flight, Heiri was happy. She felt one thing that she hadn't felt when she had laid down in the den to think. Freedom. It was hers. When she was running across the field, no one could touch it and she felt like she was running alongside the birds in the sky, floating on a cloud. She ran as far and as fast as she could, free like a wolf should be. Free like any animal should be, at least in her mind. She was in her place.

A wolf was a wild animal, meant to be free and to run the valleys without worry or without care. Nothing could tame this powerful predator as their pride and instincts were too strong. The wild always was within the wolf since it was one with the wilderness around it. But unlike some animals, it had an understanding that it was only a piece of it. It thinned out the deer herds by eliminating the weak, the old, and the sick so that the strong may continue and prosper. It was the intricate and fragile balance of things. The wolf was the predator. The wolf was the family. The wolf was the wild. The wolf was freedom.

Heiri did not return until late though, but Kipcha and Blue both waited patiently for her, with a large piece of meat. A great prize of rabbit that Blue had taken down in one fatal blow, much like Kipcha had done earlier. It seemed like that autumn night everything would be peaceful and the thought of the male pack had left all three of the she-wolves' minds. But they did not know of the two males who had just left their own den and began their sprint across the field and to the secret route to the females.


	4. Chapter 4: The Element of Surprise

**Kipcha's** **Responses:**

Maiden of the Collar: _I'm glad you are enjoying yourself. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting, there has just been so much going on that we both haven't had much time to do much of anything!_

Fallen Hikari: _Thank you for all your praise! I'll try not to let you down as will Heiri, I'm sure! Enjoy this next chapter._

Karena Gomez: _Patience, it's getting there!_

**Heiri's Note:** Sorry for takin' so long! Enjoy!

* * *

"Come, Hige. We need to reach the female's den before the wind changes and they sense us coming!" Kiba said with a slightly annoyed tone as he looked in Hige's direction. Hige was currently chasing a small, blue butterfly around. For a moment, Kiba felt a twang of embarrassment to be associated with the sugar brown wolf. Hige paused and looked over Kiba's shoulder, careful not to make the slightest bit of eye contact. He was upset and wanted to continue his chase, but he soon sensed the urgency radiating from his leader, Kiba. Hige immediately stopped what he was doing and pranced over to Kiba. One of those voices came back and told him that he was an idiot for wanting to chase a butterfly over seeing the females.

"Where are you going?" Tsume grunted. He was sore from earlier, and he had been resting quite a bit. The gray wolf was currently basking atop a large rock. Kiba wasn't in exactly the best mood, so this question caused his anger level to rise.

"Since when do you have to know everything about everything?" Kiba shot at him. Tsume decided to ignore this, for he wasn't nearly healed from their last little dispute.

"Butt out," the sugar brown wolf said as he started walking in the other direction. Tsume's ability to resist arguing lowered even more as Hige said this, for he thought Hige was on his side.

"I'm not choosing sides, I'm just giving you a life-lesson," Hige stated as if he had read Tsume's thoughts. Tsume rolled completely onto his stomach, wincing a tiny bit. The gray wolf glared daggers at Hige. The guy was making him look worse than he already did!

"I don't need a screwed up life-lesson from someone like you!" Tsume snarled at the back of stocky wolf's form. Hige ignored this as he kept walking alongside his leader. Kiba was thinking very opposing thoughts as Tsume said this, but the pack leader was definitely not in the mood to be arguing with a pack member. He sped from a steady walk, to a fast-paced trot, to a gliding lope. Knowing Hige would catch up; he changed his gait to a run. With each leap-like step he took, he put more distance in between himself and Tsume.

Another large, pale blue butterfly flittered across Hige's path. For a moment, the brown wolf looked in the direction his leader had gone, to the butterfly with its challenge. His gaze did this about two or three times when it finally stopped in Kiba's direction. The leader's companion bolted in the direction of Kiba, knowing that there was already a lot of distance between Kiba and himself.

Kiba was beginning to wonder if Hige had turned back on him, when the subject of his thoughts glided into place near him. Their footsteps were the exact opposite of each other, and there was a constant beating of paws on the ground. The sound of abnormally fast-moving water met their ears. They were crossing the water a bit further downstream than they normally did. A bush lay in their path ahead and they split apart to evade it; Hige to the right, and Kiba to the left. Both wolves lunged right into the icy, cold water. They had to push themselves a bit harder to cross, but not by much. Hige took longer than Kiba to shake the freezing water off, so he ran and shook at the same time. The sugar brown wolf accidentally shook the water on to his leader who was already irritated.

"Watch it!" Kiba shouted at Hige as he shook. There was less water this time because a lot of it flew off in other directions, but some still landed on Hige.

"Sorry," the beta wolf replied as he let his leader get out of 'shaking range'. Hige shook the water off for good, as he thought about what a bother it had become in such a short amount of time. The pair passed through a clump of trees, Hige barely evading a full on collision with a tree trunk. The wolves were beginning to get very annoyed with this little trip. They both just wanted to get to the den, and get things taken care of! The two were also too deep in their own thoughts to notice the change in the wind. It would only be a few minutes now, before they reached the female's lair, so they slowed down. They needed to surprise the females and being loud wouldn't improve their chances of being unnoticed at all!

"Heiri!" the black and white wolf called with a bit of urgency in her tone. Heiri, who was lying on her side near the entrance of the den, shot up.

"What is it Kipcha?" she replied, slightly annoyed. Just then, Blue exited the fox den and sat down, lifting her nose into the wind.

"Male wolves and they're close!" Blue said softly, lowering her head. Heiri looked at Kipcha and the silent question; 'Is this what you meant?' was transferred from Heiri to Kipcha by the look in the leader's eyes. Kipcha nodded and turned to Blue.

"I recognized a scent as that of the male wolf who called himself Hige," Kipcha said in a low growl. "How many?" Kipcha questioned the black wolf. She was in a slightly lazy mood and didn't feel like searching for the males' scents again.

"Two so far, but there might be others coming. There might be other wolves upwind of us! Who leads an attack with just two wolves?" Blue stated uneasily. Kipcha snorted at this and Heiri growled at the thought. They had been driven around enough! This time, they weren't going anywhere.

"Who said they're going to attack? What if they just want to get an understanding with us? That's also a possibility," a curious Kipcha said to the uneasy Blue.

"Nobody said they were. Come on! We can still ensure that these guys don't surprise us," Heiri said matter-of-factly as she leapt up and headed away from the direction the males were in. She crouched behind a couple of bushes about ten meters right of the den. Blue understood Heiri's plan and mirrored it, crouching behind a large rock pile some fifteen meters left of the den. When Kipcha saw Blue mirroring Heiri, she finally understood what they were planning to do. Kipcha probably had the most complicated position.

In order to corner the intruders, one of the females would have to work her way around them until she was behind them. This would be a tricky task. After some quick thinking, Kipcha headed left, in Blue's direction. She passed Blue and kept on going for about another twenty meters. After doing this, she turned the direction the male wolves were coming from and stopped after running a short distance. The males were very close, and would be coming out of the visible small clump of trees at any moment.

Kipcha headed for the nearest hiding spot, which happened to be behind a small mound. She moved to it as fast as she could travel soundlessly, and hid behind it. Sure enough, about five seconds later the two wolves came prancing out of the trees. As promised by her keen nose, one of the wolves was the sugar brown Hige. Slightly ahead of him was a white wolf, which she didn't know the name of. He had almost the exact same golden eyes that she possessed. She could tell just by looking at the way he carried himself that he was an alpha male. They soon passed and continued on towards the female den. A small bubble of anger welled up inside of the black and white wolf as she thought about these two males. How dare they intrude?

Kipcha followed, walking as silently as her padded feet would allow. Hopefully, the males wouldn't hear her. Hopefully, they wouldn't notice that their plan was backfiring until it was too late. Kipcha didn't i really /i want to hurt the males. She was much, much more curious than she was angry. Soon, the males stopped right in front of a bush. Kipcha almost laughed at their stupidity. They hadn't even noticed that they were now vulnerable due to the biting, autumn wind. Kipcha hid herself again. She was now within earshot of the two males.

"Do you think they're sleeping?" The one claiming to be named Hige asked. Kipcha sat there, trying to memorize Hige's voice as well as scent. She almost laughed at this question. The only thing keeping her from fits of laughter was that it would give away her position.

"They might be hunting," replied the white, alpha male. It was so hard to resist the urge to laugh. Kipcha wasn't sure how much longer she could take it. Suddenly she heard her packmates jump from their hiding spots. This was the time to jump out. Kipcha let a bit of snickering out. Heiri had a very, very cold look in her eyes and the black wolf was growling. The two males were taken by surprise, and they stood in shock for a moment. Being taken by surprise was something Kiba absolutely hated!

"What are you doing here?!" Heiri spat at the alpha male. Her green eyes bore into his golden ones, silently demanding he leave while Blue was glaring daggers at Hige, trying her best to intimidate the males. Kipcha came up behind them, snickering. The male wolves were surrounded without any way to escape. Not that Kiba wanted to escape, but knowing that he i could /i made him more comfortable. Hige was in heaven as he stared around at the females.

"Hello, ladies!" the beta wolf said happily. Heiri ignored him while Blue growled.

"We came to ask you a question," Kiba replied, matching Heiri's icy stare. It seemed that neither of them was willing to back down.

"What are your names?" Kipcha asked the males in a low voice.

"One question at a time, please," Hige said in answer to Kipcha. He seemed to really be enjoying himself. Heiri lost her patience. The alpha female bent into a low crouch, ready to fly forward at Kiba. Her lips pulled as far back as they would go and she was snarling. Kiba took this as a very offensive move, so he too got into a fighting stance. They were snarling at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.

Hige was trying to decide whether or not to stop Kiba. Here were three perfectly flawless females and his leader was about to just drive them off! This absolutely had to be stopped!

"Stop it, Kiba! They need to at least hear us out!" Hige said with a tone that was dangerous to use when talking to your pack leader. Kiba looked backwards at his companion. Hige was right. The females needed to hear them out, otherwise everything might be ruined. Little did Kiba know that the only reason Hige wanted to stay was that he was surrounded by three females.

Kipcha was thinking somewhere along those lines. She wanted to hear what the males had to say, because you never know what opportunities they might be passing up if the one called Kiba fought Heiri. What if their intentions did not lean towards hostility?

"Heiri, stop it. What if they have something to say that we really need to hear?" this was Kipcha's effort to stop Heiri. She wasn't too stern with the gray wolf, but stern enough it seemed. Heiri and Kiba both relaxed, as did Hige, Kipcha, and Blue.

"Thank you...?" the white wolf paused after he spoke. He looked at Kipcha as if he hadn't done anything wrong, and Heiri was the 'criminal'.

"Kipcha," the white and black wolf answered.

"I'm Blue," the black wolf stated with an edge of anger to her voice.

"You are....?" Hige asked Heiri who was glaring.

"I'm Heiri. Now what did you two want?" The alpha asked the sugar brown. He looked at the white wolf, wondering if he should explain it or wait.

"We have something to ask of your pack. This might be a bit early and jumping ahead but," Hige stopped as Kiba caught his eye, silently telling him to stop talking.

"We wanted to know if you'd like to join packs," Kiba said out front and plainly. Hige was pawing the ground, not wanting to meet the gaze of any females, Blue and Heiri suddenly got stiff, while Kipcha looked thoughtful.

"Join packs? As in our pack with yours?" Blue questioned, though she knew exactly what they wanted.

"That's what we mean," Hige stated, as he looked away from the ground. Blue didn't seem too angry, judging by her tone of voice, but he was yet to hear what Kipcha and Heiri had to say.

"We'd need to know a bit more about each other's packs," Kipcha was stating the obvious. It was true; they hardly knew anything about each other.

"Why? What good will it do us?" Heiri said in a soft voice.

"Our pack has four males. Kiba, me, a gray wolf named Tsume, and a runt named Toboe. It's an all male pack," Hige replied to Kipcha's question, letting Kiba answer Heiri's.

"What you see is what you get," Kipcha said in a whisper. She cocked her head to the left, to the right, and then she centered it, this indicated Heiri, Kipcha, and herself.

"Think about it," Kiba said as he turned and began to trot away. Nobody really understood what he meant, but then they realized he was giving a late answer to Heiri's unanswered question.

"See you!" Hige shouted happily, as he walked after Kiba. He was being much more positive about the situation than anyone else was.

"We'll be back, tomorrow," Kiba called back to the female wolves, who were left alone with their thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5: Talks

**Heiri's Responses:**

Maiden of the Collar: _Don't worry! We're workin' on it._

Fallen Hikari:

Karina Gomez: _Yes, they met _

**Kipcha's Note:** Well, it took me a long while to get this written, but it's finally done! I hope you enjoy!

* * *

They all had awoken early and were already roused as the sun began to peak above the horizon. Toboe watched the sunrise in amazement as the sun spilled its oranges, reds, and yellows over the once blue-black sky. It was an amazing image an artist's dream as the wolves all lay about, watching the morning sun break the seal of slumber that the moon's magic had placed upon the Earth. They didn't speak and instead silently observed the beginnings of the day's life and morning rituals. But Tsume was the first to speak, surprisingly.

"So, what the hell happened?" He growled, finally breaking the silence that had loomed over the small pack. "You both came back pretty fast and I'm surprised lard ass over there isn't running his mouth about the females yet. I mean, he's never been around so many before, has he?"

Hige growled in warning and looked up at the gray, but he did not retort. He had learned long by now there was no point in arguing with Tsume. The jealous wolf would just wrap back around to his usual arguments and it would be a repeat of the last time they had argued. Instead, Hige dismissed the comment and glanced over at Kiba. The white wolf seemed reluctant to share with Tsume, and his golden eyes were already boring holes into the gray's skull. "Well, we tried to sneak up on their den and things didn't go exactly as planned."

"Let me guess, they were smart and had already taken off," Tsume grunted with an arrogant smirk dancing in his eyes as he closed them.

"No, the element of surprise just didn't work in our favor," Hige grudgingly replied. The second the words left him, he regretted even speaking.

"What?" Tsume opened his eyes. "You were caught?"

"Do I need to break it down simpler to you?" Hige growled bitterly.

"What was it? Did they see your fat ass too soon?" This caused a reaction out of Hige. Hige was one of the best when it came to sneaking when he was serious about it. His nose was strong and even this far away he could catch a few scents of the she-wolves as the smells danced on the winds. "Did they run you out, Kiba?" Tsume looked at the white wolf now, seemingly satisfied with the reaction he received from the husky wolf. "No wonder why you came home so quietly, probably didn't want Toboe or myself to see your tail tucked between your legs, did you? The least you could have done was hold your ground." He turned away from Kiba once more and closed his eyes, holding himself in his arrogant position once more. "Even Toboe could do that," he added as Kiba growled.

"No one asked for you to stay," Kiba replied menacingly. "Feel free to leave the pack at any time." Tsume silenced at this comment, but stood up. Trying not to injure his pride anymore than it had been just the sun before, Tsume limped into the den bitterly. He tried his best to walk on the leg that was injured, but the limp was still evident.

A few moments of silence passed before the youngest could not contain his questions any longer. "So, how many are there?" Toboe asked curiously. Kiba merely stood up and walked up his slow to the top of the rock wall. The alpha was simply too annoyed with Tsume to deal with any questions the young one could possibly ask.

Hige sighed. Why was he always either caught in the middle or left with the runt? "Three," he replied. "But why would you care, Toboe?" He had not spoken what he was meaning, but merely underlined it. If he was going to be stuck alone with the runt, he might as well make the best of things.

Toboe ignored the comment and only twitched his ear in his annoyance. "So…what were they like exactly?"

"Shouldn't you know? After all, runt, you probably are in the she-wolf's mind the best out of all of us," Hige quipped as he begun to think that maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. He could take out some assertiveness on the runt instead of on Tsume and maybe ease the tension between the white and gray by doing so.

Toboe only slightly frowned in his eyes, but he continued to press on with the question. "Well?"

Hige sighed. How the hell could you explain everything about someone's personality when you talked with them for only a few moments? "Well…" he started as Toboe leaned forward, already extremely attentive. "Personal space," he suddenly grunted as Toboe gave yet another frown. Toboe leaned back into an upright position, but his ears wear still perked and ready to listen. "Well, from what I could gather, they are all very, very gorgeous ladies. Wait…why am I telling _you_ this?" Hige smirked once again.

"C'mon! Seriously!" Toboe almost seemed to whine. "Besides, I've already seen them."

"Alright, alright," Hige finally decided enough fun and games. The sooner he answered the youth's question, the sooner he could get away. "From what I could tell, Heiri is most obviously the alpha out of the group as you have said before, but she was quite aggressive and was the first to show her teeth out of the three. And I thought Kipcha had an attitude problem. Well, anyways, she seems to be a lot like Kiba, the main reason why I think those two will never, ever mate. And Tsume certainly won't mate with someone who might as well be a double of his rival." Toboe only nodded, but allowed the sugar brown to continue onto the next wolf.

"Then there was Blue," he started. "She was cute…but then again, they all were. Anyway, she seemed somewhat uncertain about the whole situation. It was as if she was almost flipping back and forth between her leader and Kipcha." Hige thought to himself and added, "Which is understandable since I think Kipcha may be the voice of reason when it comes to us for Heiri. But they don't seem to be fiercely competitive like Tsume and Kiba. Personally, once they mate I'm sure the tensions will go down. Then again, until they do mate and start courting things could get harsher," Hige seemed to have forgotten what he was exactly talking about and was breaking off into a rant. "After all, we all know that Tsume loves to pick fights with Kiba and if he were to start competing for Kiba's choice it would cause even more tension and we'd be lucky if they didn't kill each other. Then again, what if the female did like Tsume over Kiba? But how could you do that? I mean Tsume is pretty—"

"Hige!" the youth howled to interrupt the rant.

"Huh?" The older wolf seemed to snap out of his little tirade and realized that he had been completely sidetracked. "Oh…well then, who was I on?"

"Kipcha…" Toboe replied flatly in a tone that said, 'How could you not remember?'

"Oh right! She was quite curious and as I was saying, I think she might be a good advocate for combining packs. I just hope she's a smooth talker like me and can easily persuade Heiri," Toboe rolled his eyes at this comment, but Hige continued. "But the alpha did look like quite the stubborn one and this probably isn't an easy decision for her. We can only hope though," he finally concluded. "So is there anything else you are wondering to bother me about, runt?"

Toboe frowned for the third time and stood up. "Nope, because I'm gonna find out myself!" he proclaimed.

"What?"

"Later, Hige!" he called over his shoulder as he was already bounding off without waiting for Hige to even ask a question.

"Stupid cub," Hige muttered under his breath as he rested his head on his paws. Was it really his problem that the youth had decided to run off and find out what was going on with the she-wolves? Nope. Not one bit, no siree. Hige was not responsible for Toboe and his actions so he decided to forget about it and think about other things, like girls…and food.

Toboe ran quickly to the stream, but came to a skidding halt just before the water. He hated it. He dreaded it every single time. The same time the ice-cold water would seep in through his thin coat and pierce him like a thousand little pine needles and his pads would feel like you had taken rose thorns to them. Maybe he was over exaggerating, but in his mind, he was only thinking the truth. Toboe decided to swallow his fear and plunged into the water. He kicked and almost panicked when he found himself pulled a little underwater by the undertow, but he calmed as soon as he realized that he had only slipped and there was no way this water was strong enough to take him.

Pushing the fears of being swept away by the current into the back of his mind once more, Toboe made it across the stream and shook the water from his coat, already beginning to feel the autumn wind nip at him. A shiver went down his spine as he shook more and threw another large amount of water off his body. After deciding he had spent enough time standing there and shivering, Toboe took off across the field like a hare running from the fox.

He was surprised that he could run so fast at times, considering how small he was and his muscles had yet to be fully toned like Kiba, Tsume, or even Hige. But he was across the field, nevertheless, at lightning speed. He ran and ran, almost not wanting to stop as he drew closer to the cluster of woods. The urge to veer and just run back to the stream was tempting, but the curiosity aroused by the females was stronger.

The youth came to a slow trot and stopped before the large clump of forest. He stopped to smell and could smell the forest was thick with the she-wolves' scents. They had probably marked their boundaries by now and that was the only explanation he could think of that could possibly be the reason why the scent was so strong on the edge of the wood. Toboe hesitantly darted into the woods, trying to remember the path he had taken to see the females in secret. He slowed his pace once more, as he saw a black form looming in the veil of trees just up ahead. He scampered over, wagging his tail like an excited cub.

But the black form was not so interested in the younger wolf behind it. Instead, Blue was more concerned with her meal. The hare perched in the middle of a small clearing was her target, but all she could do was watch. She crouched, poised to deliver a fatal blow at any time. She could almost hear the heartbeat of the prey as she only heard her own blood pumping through her ears. Something about being ready to hunt and waiting on edge like this heightened her senses and she just supposed it was the inner wolf truly showing itself each time as she could pick out every detail of her surroundings if she wanted to.

Every slight movement from the hare was noted. Every twitch of its little nose to its body's slight inflating and deflating of its breath, its life. She was just waiting for the choice that even the wolf faces. Instincts would tell the hare one answer while its logic argued the opposite choice. It was a battle that all of nature faced; the choice of wits over instinct, instinct over wits. Even the biggest of animals faced it as much as the tiny little field mice that would scurry across the field to escape the hawk.

A loud snap of a twig broke the silence just behind Blue. When the wolf hunted, instinct was stronger than its logic as the calling of half of her blood pulsed through her veins. Everything in Blue caused her to snap around and defend herself, her prey, and her territory.

Her offender let out a cry, which was almost shameful to its species, as she pounced it to the ground roughly. She growled ferociously as the offender's scent drifted from its body to her memory. It didn't take long before it registered in her mind who this strange wolf was. "You…" she almost seemed to hiss. "You were the spy that other sun."

"Spy?" the young wolf whimpered pathetically. "I swear I meant no harm. I was just sorta curious and wanted to know more about your pack." Blue stood still firmly about the rust brown wolf, but she let her lip uncurl from its snarl. "M-m-m-my name is Toboe," he whimpered. "I honestly meant no harm to you or yours."

"_Our pack has four males. Kiba, me, a gray wolf named Tsume, and a runt named Toboe. It's an all male pack."_

The second he proclaimed his identity, Blue allowed him to stand. She let her ears droop and put her tail between her legs. She was ashamed of her behavior to this wolf named Toboe, despite that his age was obviously younger than her own alpha. "Forgive me for my behavior," she murmured as he rose back to his feet. "I meant no offense."

"I'm sorry for spooking you," he replied uneasily as thoughts of what she could do in a battle raced through his mind. A few moments of silence passed before either spoke.

"If you don't mind my asking," Blue spoke up, erasing her shame from her appearance. "What exactly do you want? I thought we had until the end of this sun."

"What?" Toboe cocked his head to the side in his confusion. The young wolf looked much like a confused down when you tell it to "sit down" instead of just "sit" or "down."

"Kiba and that Hige," Blue replied. "They said we had until the end of this sun to get back with an answer."

"Oh!" Toboe exclaimed. "I'm here on my own business, you could say. I just wanted to kinda meet you guys instead of sneaking around."

"I see…" Blue said thoughtfully as her ice-blue eyes had a thoughtful spark within them. "I suppose it would be ok…" she looked off in the direction where the hare had once been. "Lunch is ruined anyways," she grumbled regretfully. "Follow me."

She padded past him and he only lingered for a second. Toboe decided to follow after Blue and turned, quickly falling into pace beside her. "You're Blue, right?" She didn't respond and only seemed to nod. "And the black and white one is Kipcha, right?"

"Yes and the gray with the white underside is Heiri," Blue growled, trying to keep patient with him as her stomach whined for food. Toboe could hear the annoyance in her voice and shut his mouth. Hige had taught him, as well as the other two, that when that tone of voice was used, it was time to shut up or you'd be talking to fangs and claws in two seconds.

The rest of the short journey was silent and Blue took solace in it. She knew Heiri was not going to be overly friendly and Kipcha would have a hundred and one questions to ask. When they reached the old fox den, Kipcha was already waiting at the edge of the woods and there was no sign of Heiri whatsoever. Toboe stopped as soon as he saw Kipcha and almost shrank back as she trotted over to him to get a good look at him. Sniffing in his scent, Kipcha etched him into her memory in quite the same manner she had Hige. "Who is this?" Kipcha asked, already able to smell the youth's fear.

"Toboe," Blue replied. "He's from the male pack."

"The male pack?" the black and white wolf almost seemed taken aback as she eyed Toboe. "But I thought we had until the sun set."

"You do," Toboe replied, trying to sound brave. "I just came here on my own to see you guys, uh, I mean girls for myself." Kipcha gave him a look of "I get what you mean" and brushed him off for the moment.

"Heiri's been cooped up in the den the entire time," Kipcha spoke to the black she-wolf instead of the young wolf, but he didn't seem to mind too much. "Are you sure it is wise to lead him here? You know how she gets sometimes and with good reason."

Toboe gulped, now he was extremely nervous. "Maybe I should go…"

"Don't be ridiculous," Blue replied to the youngster before turning back to Kipcha. "I think it would be wise to let her hear more of the males. We could learn from him." Kipcha thought it over in her mind and nodded.

"You have a point…" she quickly turned to Toboe. "But if Heiri makes any sign of wanting you to go, you leave and you leave quickly." Toboe only nodded as Kipcha turned and padded to the den with Blue following right behind her.

Toboe was quite hesitant about entering their den completely, but he slowly picked up the rear as Blue hollered back behind her, "Keep up runt!" Toboe frowned, even around the females he was the runt. They arrived in a matter of seconds as Kipcha took to her favorite stone to bask upon in the morning sunlight and laid down to study the young wolf some more. Blue walked to the entrance of the den, but did not dare to enter. Heiri had been keeping both Kipcha and Blue out since Kiba and Hige had left them and was almost like an alpha ready to deliver her cubs. A light growl was heard from the back of the den as Blue blocked some of the morning light from entering the dark cave. "Heiri…" Blue started as she kept her tail down and her neck exposed carefully. "Toboe has come."

"Who?"

"Toboe." Blue thought for a second and then quickly added, "From the male pack." That seemed to spark the alpha's interest as she stood from her spot in the cave and trotted to the mouth of the den. Looking out she saw the little one and almost seemed disappointed.

"He's just a cub, what is he doing here?" she growled. "Do they expect us to babysit?"

"No, that's no it at all!" Toboe quickly blurted out. Heiri's emerald eyes pierced the young wolf as he put his tail between his legs and whimpered almost pitifully. He said nothing as Heiri turned her attention back to Blue.

"Do they expect us to babysit?" she repeated as Blue shook her head.

"No," she answered. "He claims he wanted to investigate for himself."

"I see…" Heiri's eyes darted over to Toboe as Kipcha sighed.

"Toboe, tell us, what is the wolf pack like?" Kipcha, at that point, didn't care what Heiri wanted to do with him.

Toboe was uncertain of whether or not to speak as he looked back and forth from the she-wolf resting on a rock to the two she-wolves standing at the mouth of the cave. "Answer her," Heiri growled, almost annoyed at Kipcha's quick inquisition. She walked over to Kipcha and growled as Kipcha immediately gave up her spot for her alpha. Heiri got situated as Blue laid on the right and Kipcha to the left. Toboe was in front of them and uneasily laid himself down as he looked at all three of them.

"Well, as you know, Kiba is our alpha," he began, unsure of how exactly to dictate his pack to the she-wolves. "He likes to think about the future. He thinks about it a lot, actually. That's probably why he's so determined to get you three to join our pack so that there may be a future. He's a great leader though because he's always looking out for us, even for Tsume. Tsume isn't much for pack ethics, but I think that's because he was so alone for so long and that's probably why he seems to go against everything Kiba says. Then again, I've always wondered if some of what Tsume says is just because he wants to be the alpha."

"There's competition?" Kipcha asked as Toboe nodded.

"They sometimes get into fights, but Kiba always puts Tsume back in place. I think that part of Tsume wants Kiba as a leader, so he doesn't fight to his full ability all the time. They fight back and forth with insults constantly when Tsume starts in with his attitude. But Hige and I tend to stay neutral on it."

"Tell us more about Hige," the black and white wolf almost seemed to order. Toboe only nodded slightly as he observed his audience. Blue was tense, but she was listening with an open ear and mind. In her blue eyes, uncertainty was held within as she seemed to be debating on which way she'd like to sway. Kipcha, however, was in contrast to Blue. She seemed quite relaxed, but extremely attentive to every word that Toboe spoke. She was at ease and extremely curious as the gears in her head meshed. He knew, though, that his real task at hand was to get Heiri to listen. Heiri was perhaps the most intent on listening, but she was rigid and sitting up straight, full of pride. She was almost the extreme median of the two at her side; at least that was how Toboe could describe it.

"Hige likes to tease and he tries to lighten a lot of the serious situations," Toboe began. He thought that pretty much explained the way the husky wolf behaved, but he decided to expand. "He does what he is told, but he's not a drone and thinks for himself. He likes to voice his opinion, even when he probably shouldn't sometimes. And he's always wanted a mate too, so he usually has females and food on his mind as he loves eating." Now that Toboe had observed the three listeners before him, he felt almost uneasy as Heiri's eyes were watching every single movement he made and ever breath he took. She was like a shark stalking its prey and Toboe felt almost trapped.

"So how well do you actually function as a pack?" Kipcha seemed to be the interrogator, but Toboe still kept his eyes in Heiri's direction.

"We work great when it comes down to it! You should see us hunt! Hige locates the prey, Tsume chases it down with Kiba and provides a distraction while Kiba delivers the final blow," Toboe resisted the urge to babble as he thought of their hunts as a pack.

"What do you do then?" Heiri growled bitterly.

"I try to help, but they usually yell at me…" Toboe looked away, he seemed ashamed that his own pack rejected his help for the hunts. "I'm not as fast as the others and I'm not as strong."

"Well that's good, I'd hope they aren't all as pathetic as you," Heiri snorted.

"Heiri!" both Kipcha and Blue seemed to scold their alpha as they exchanged glares with one another.

"That's no way to treat a guest," Kipcha muttered coldly to Heiri.

"What are you trying to do, Heiri? Make a bad impression?" Blue added as Heiri looked at Toboe. He seemed ashamed of himself and almost embarrassed that she felt this way about him, but he said nothing to his defense as Heiri made the note he was perhaps the most timid. She knew that if Kiba had been there, he probably would not be so friendly. Weakness in an alpha was a mistake and she was assured that there was nothing to worry about from this little one.

"Forgive me," she growled. "I forget to hold my tongue, sometimes. Continue, won't you?"

"Uh…sure…" Toboe nodded. "What else do you want to know?" The conversation carried on as the questions from Kipcha kept flying. Toboe felt inadequate to answer a few of their wonderings, but he still answered them to the best of his ability. He gazed up at the sky to see that their conversation had carried on to almost mid-sun.

"I really should be going," he finally spoke as he rose to his feet. "I think the others are probably missing me by now." In the back of his mind, he knew this was probably untrue and that Hige was probably talking to Kiba and possibly Tsume, making cracks at that maybe a deer ate him.

"Yes," Heiri replied. "It is time you go, it's almost mid-sun now. We have other things to do than to think all day long."

"Like eat," Blue growled. "I missed my breakfast." Toboe said nothing more, turning to return to his home.

Kipcha rose to her own feet and began to trot over to the edge of the woods. "Well, let's get that breakfast," she growled.

"Amen to that!" Blue replied as she shot off after Kipcha to get a second shot at breakfast. Heiri, however, did not follow and only laid her head down on her paws. Too much was on the alpha's mind to be worrying about food at the moment.


	6. Chapter 6: The Final Decision

**Kipcha's Responses:**

Fallen Hikari: _Glad you enjoyed that chapter with Toboe's views. No matter how small or young, the opinions still matter._

Maiden of the Collar: _Sorry for keeping you waiting! But Heiri got grounded and a bunch of other things were going on, so her chapter is finally here...oops...I just stole her author note. Oops;;;_

Karena Gomez: _She's got to. She has to be dominating and keep control. It's just the character, but yes, Toboe does have to watch himself. And besides, wouldn't it be nice to see what kind of reaction you can get out of the other male?_

Toboe-Angel: _Long time no review! The next chapter is here! Sorry for keeping you waiting!_

* * *

Kiba paced back and forth in front of the rocky cave. The alpha male hadn't slept last night, and he was still restless. He had been thinking for hours on end. Had he made the right choice? He reassured himself that he did. An alpha male must be confident in his decisions, if he wants to be successful that is. Kiba just couldn't help wondering if maybe Tsume had been right. It was nearly sundown, and they would soon be leaving for the female's den. Kiba i did /i hope they would agree to join packs, but he wondered if Heiri really wanted to. Maybe she was stressing out like himself. Kiba raised his eyes to the bleeding sky and decided that it was time to leave. The white wolf leapt down from the rocky landing and trotted over to the sleeping, sugar brown wolf. 

"Hige! It's time to go, now get up," Kiba ordered, loud enough for Hige to wake with a startle. As the stocky male dragged his eyelids up, Kiba began to trot in the direction of the abandoned fox den. He would wait for Hige to catch up, and then they would bolt. Kiba wanted to arrive on time, because being late might add doubts to the minds of the other pack. Early impressions were important, and Kiba didn't want to make them think he and Hige were lazy asses. Well, maybe Hige was on the line in that area, but Kiba didn't want to make that known. Mating was one of the main reasons they decided to invite the females into their pack. If the females couldn't stand lazy males, Hige was screwed; though they would eventually come to find his character. Kiba then started to wonder why he was so worried about Hige when they all had their faults.

Hige soon caught up to Kiba, a bounce in his step and a glint in his eye. Kiba almost snickered at this. Of course, Hige would always be happy to see a female wolf. Kiba nodded his head in the direction they were headed, implying that they were going to run. Hige seemed to catch the white wolf's drift and he took off. He seemed to understand that Kiba wanted to be there on time, and the sun was almost touching the jagged horizon. The two wolves bounded across the tundra, enjoying the pleasure you experience when running. Wolves do not tire easily, so they were nowhere near out of breath. They soon heard the rushing of water, telling them that the stream was just ahead. The two crashed right into it, flinging themselves forward. When crossing water, the wolves forget themselves and put everything into that one leap!

Kiba was hoping that the females had made up their mind by now, and the meeting would be short. For a second he wondered what would happen. Would the females come to live in the cave? Would they follow him and Hige home this moon? The pack leader decided to play it by ear as he dodged around a bush. The faint scent of the females was growing stronger with each bound they took, only a bit longer until they would reach the den. Kiba wanted to do everything perfectly, because one screw up can screw another thing up, until it leads to total disaster. If the she-wolves decided to join the pack, the mating issue would be covered. The problem is that the wolves would still be left with the food problem. They would probably have to travel again, following the game. Winter wasn't all that far away. Kiba could sense it in the air, and in the climate. The water from the stream wasn't as warm as it had been, and the food sources were almost all gone. Kiba knew it had been some time since he last had a member of the deer family to eat.

There were more and more trees, getting closer and closer together. The females scent was strong by this time, and Kiba knew they were just behind that far clump of brush. He could hear them now, or Kipcha and Blue at least, but he could not pick up Heiri's voice. Kipcha still sounded confident and Blue seemed a lot less unsure. Maybe Heiri was sleeping, or she might be savoring the last few minutes before she had to make her final decision; Kiba hoped this was not the case.

The sound of paws beating on the earth had been steady in Kipcha's ears for some time now. She had chosen not to bring it up because Heiri and Blue were not hearing-impaired. Bringing it up would make her sound like a know-it-all. Now she knew that the alpha male and Hige were only feet away, so she broke off her conversation with Blue. She turned to face in the direction of the sound, making sure that their entrance would _not_ catch her off guard. Kipcha definitely did not want to look like a pup in front of two wolves, one of which could be her future mate.

The two male wolves pranced into the clearing, Hige looking rather full of himself. Kiba passed right by Kipcha and Blue, heading in Heiri's direction. Kipcha was about to growl, but then she remembered that this wolf might be her future alpha male. Still, she didn't like the fact that he had just trotted past her as if she didn't exist. She just stared after him with a glare. Not three seconds later, the other wolf trotted right past her in the same manner. If she were human, her jaw would have dropped to the floor. She was about to let that growl out this time, when she remembered that it would only create hostilities within the joined pack, if Heiri even decided to join packs, that is. Something snapped inside Kipcha at that moment. These two males were heading over to Heiri who was currently lying down. Kipcha could sense that Heiri was frustrated, so she decided to buy her a bit more time. The gray wolf bounded after the males at top speed, and then she turned around and slid across their paths. She was going to have a bit of conversation, first.

Kiba and Hige stood in front of her, staring at her in shock. Their eyes bore into her, wondering what kind of reason she would have to just jump in front of them like that. Kipcha desperately tried to catch Blue's eye, which wasn't hard because she was currently the center of attention. Blue loped over to her packmate's side, understanding that Heiri still needed more time. Heiri, however seemed like she could care less. She just stood up and started pacing in front of the abandoned fox den. She was either completely oblivious, or doing her best to ignore everything. Hige eyed her suspiciously for a moment, before directing his full attention on Kipcha and Blue.

"I was just thinking that we need to get to know each other just a bit before we all make this big and final decision," Kipcha said, trying her best not to sound nervous. She was so thankful of her wit and quick thinking. Blue gave her a look that seemed to say ' Good Job '. Kipcha almost sighed a great release of air at this; trusting in Blue that she hadn't sounded unsure of herself.

"Get to...know each other?" Hige said in a half-question, half-comment way. Kipcha nodded, making eye contact with the beta wolf. Kiba stared down at the black wolf, making her feel very uncomfortable. She lowered her head, but just barely. Blue still felt really bad about pouncing on the young pup who had come here on his own. She didn't want either of the males to see this action as a sign of aggression, and she was worried that they had.

"We came here on time, trusting that your pack leader would have made a firm decision by now," Kiba said with much more snap than intended. His tone had also sounded a bit insulting to Heiri, even in his opinion. The four wolves looked over to the pacing female, wondering what her reaction to this comment would be. She was still seemingly unfazed, which surprised Kipcha and Blue. Usually, Heiri would have sent a remark back at Kiba for that. 'She _must_ be thinking hard,' was the thought that passed through the minds of the four wolves.

"True, but try putting yourself in her position. She has barely had a day to make this decision!" Kipcha blurted out into the growing silence.

"In case you've forgotten, I practically_am_ in her position. I made the decision to invite your pack into ours. Don't you think I had to understand the risks? Make some sacrifices?" Kiba retorted at Kipcha. He wanted her to understand that it wasn't a one-sided deal. Heiri definitely wasn't the only one making a big, important decision!

"Meh, well you've had days to consider it!" The streaked wolf said quickly. He should have given the female pack a bit more time to decide. That was Kipcha's opinion, as well as Blue's.

"You guys could have been the ones to invite _us_ into _your_ pack, you know," Hige said in defense. Joining two packs on a food scarce tundra wasn't a one sided matter. No, not in the least!

"That's not the case. You were the ones who invited us into your pack. Forget about all of those 'what ifs', and worry about what _did_ happen. True, we could have been the ones to bring up the idea of joining packs, but it didn't happen that way," Blue broke out of her silence.

"Just shut up! In a few minutes, it might not be your pack, or their pack! It might be _our_ pack!" Hige's voice rose, slightly.

"You know what? We're all acting like pups. This isn't going anywhere, except maybe a mother wolf's den. Everyone, just calm down," Kipcha said, taking a breath. She didn't want anything to be messed up by a mere argument. However, she was worried that if they _did_ join packs, things might tend to be like this often. Oh well, one step at a time.

"Kipcha is right. Let's just calm down," Kiba stated in a slightly demanding tone of voice.

"Yeah," Hige chipped in.

"Right!" Blue added.

Suddenly, Heiri's head shot up and she looked over to the small gathering. Her emerald eyes held a fiery glint to them. She moved over towards them in a cross between a stomp and a walk. Each leg was brought up slowly, as if each of her legs was a heavy weight. She had finally come to a decision, and a tough one at that. A joining of the two packs could mean starvation, while not joining packs would mean this generation of females would be the lost. She just hoped that she had made the right decision.

"Kiba," she said the name, while making full and complete eye contact with the alpha male. He stared back at her, silently telling her that he was listening. She paused for a moment, as if searching for the right words. Blue pawed the ground, pondering on what her pack leader's final decision would be. She wasn't completely sure of what she wanted, but she was leaning towards joining packs. Kipcha on the other hand stared at Heiri, standing still. She was heavily anticipating the final decision, and personally hoped they would be joining packs.

"I am a strong believer in teamwork, and I believe that if we join packs...We can conquer the problem of food scarcity," Heiri said, trusting in her own words.

"Well, that's great!" Hige shouted right after Heiri spoke. He soon wished he hadn't though, because Blue sent him a silencing glare.

"However, I have made absolutely_no_ plans of resigning from my position as alpha female," she stated. Kiba paused for a moment before speaking.

"We all understand that. Just know that I won't be stepping down from my position, either," Kiba said, using the same tone of voice Heiri had used. Heiri nodded her head, agreeing. She just hoped this would work. Kipcha's eyes lit up, sparkling in the twilight. The sun had finally set, and the moon was visible. Quite a few stars lay scattered about the dusk sky. The sky was still slightly pink along the horizon line. Blue looked up at the full moon, breathing in its beauty, relaxing from the stress of moments before. At that moment, Kipcha and Heiri both raised their heads to the sky, and let out a long howl. Heiri's being a release of emotion, Kipcha's flowing along that line of melody that only a wolf can produce. Blue, Kiba and Hige then joined in, producing a harmony that could be heard miles away.

Back at the male's cave, Tsume and Toboe heard the howl, understanding that the two packs had been united. Tsume and Toboe each had been laying down on a rocky outcropping. They soon sat up, tilting their heads back to the starlit sky. The brown wolf and the gray wolf also joined in, the notes floating across the tundra and space that lay in between them. Kiba brought it all to an abrupt stop, by stopping his own part in the howl. All three females stopped shortly after, and the last three males being the last.

"Well, I guess that means we're packmates," Hige stated the obvious. The new packmates all sat down for a moment, taking a moment to catch their breath and relax. Yes, they were definitely a pack. Kipcha, Blue, and Heiri were glad. Heiri silently decided to herself that she had made the right decision.


End file.
